Janice Eileen Phelps

Born May 22,1940 in Jacksonville, Illinois to Floyd and Eileen (Ervin) Foelsch, she married her high school sweetheart, Gregory Phelps on April 9, 1958 in Peoria. He survives.

Also surviving are two children, Conni (Rick) Staker of Groveland and Bradley Phelps of Pekin; three grandchildren, Nicole (Marcus) of Peoria, Maggie (Trenton) Cullen of Mackinaw and Raven Staker of California; six great-grandchildren, Kenzie, Malachi, Aniyah, Cayden, Amari, and Zion; and two siblings, Barbara (Greg) Ristich of Pekin and Mike (Lily) Stone of Colorado.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her stepfather, Robert Stone.

She was a 1958 graduate of Pekin Community High School.

Janice started her career as a hairdresser, graduating from Oehrlein School of Cosmetology. She operated a shop in her home for many years.

During high school, she worked for the A&W Root Beer stand in Pekin. Later, she worked for Aramark at the Pekin Mall, the Union Mission, Edward Jones Investments, Christian Book Store, and finally in the food service department at Pekin Community High School District #303 and eventually transition into the clerical department before retiring in 1998.

She was an immaculate housekeeper, but in spite of that and work, she still found time to teach both her kids how to drive. Her and Brad spent many nights playing board games and cards and going to scary movies while dad was working.

She was a long-time member of the Pekin First United Methodist Church.

Gregory and Janice went to dinner and a movie every Friday night through their many years of marriage.

Even though she was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, she considered St. Louis her home. Whenever a dispute came up between her and her husband, he would jokingly ask, "you're from St. Louis aren't you, your one of those tough St. Louis girls aren't you"? She would always reply "yes, and proud of it!" She was always ready to stand up for herself. Growing up, she lived close to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery so Greg liked to tease her and said he thought the fumes from all those hops and yeast from the brewery seeped into her bedroom and made her feisty. Could be, she would say. So, it always turned into a good laugh.

Janice always put her family first. She enjoyed traveling and camping. She enjoyed roller skating and bowling. In St. Louis, she owned her own roller skates.

Every year they would get in the car and take two weeks to some destination in the United States. This was before GPS so she was the chief map reader and got them anywhere.

Her favorite places were Lake Geneva and Two Rivers, Wisconsin. The Light House Inn in Two Rivers held a special place in her heart. At night in their room looking out over the waters of Lake Michigan and the lights of Manitowoc.

After her husband retired, they fulfilled their bucket list and took a trip up through Canada across the country to Seattle, Washington and down the California coast. Then later to Alaska and a cruise to Hawaii.

She especially liked taking Amtrak to Chicago on a day trip for shopping, especially at Christmas time. She would buy one special Christmas ornament each time.

She loved Lamb Chop, the sassy beloved sock puppet and Betty Boop.

She always had excellent taste in clothes and a sense of style.

She survived several cancer bouts, Rheumatic fever as a child, a broken shoulder, and a knee replacement, so you might say she was a "tough St. Louis girl after all.

Her husband always said, she was easy to talk to and quick to laugh and that is why he fell in love with her the day they met.

There is a hole in the family makeup now. She is deeply missed.

There are no scheduled services at this time. Cremation has been accorded by Preston-Hanley Funeral Homes & Crematory in Pekin.

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